Features

He’s a Wonder boy

Allen Stone is an unlikely soul sensation

L
a Maroquinerie, on the outskirts of Paris, is packed with grooving revellers.
But the atmosphere inside the basement club is less that of a ­regular gig
than of a revival ­meeting. There are bouts of mass swaying and arm-waving;
strangers smile at each other; and when a group of young women start
spinning in ­circles, people applaud and politely move aside. On stage, a
sweat-soaked band are playing 1970s-style soul, led by a preacher’s son who
appears to have taken tips from his dad. Allen Stone treats the crowd like a
congregation, urging them to join him in celebration. He leads his “choir”
through a soul remake of Bob Marley’s Is This Love and his sensational
protest song, Unaware.

What’s strange, though, is that, while Stone sounds like a cool retro
soulster, he looks like a nerd brought up in a commune. Wavy blond hair
spills out of his floppy